It is vital that a large crowd appear at the White House today (Tuesday) to protest the Israeli Navy commando attack on the Gaza Flotilla, the killing of about 9 activists, the wounding of about 30, and the abduction of the rest of the 700 passengers. In international waters. The world is watching.

These are our demands to the administration and Congress:
1. Publicly condemn the attack on civilian ships in international waters
2. Demand that Israel immediately release the names of all those killed, injured, and being detained
3. Recall the United States ambassador from Israel
4. Pending the outcome of a thorough investigation, cancel all aid, financial and military, to Israel

Israeli criminal navy attacks humanitarian ships in international waters. Reports of 10-16 humanitarian activists killed and 50-60 injured. Ships taken to Haifa to avoid press at Ashdod. By now you have probably heard of this atrocity. CodePink, WIAMEP, DCMetroBDS, ANSWER and others are asking all who can to assemble at the Israeli Embassy, 3514 International Drive NW (VAN NESS METRO STOP) at 3pm TODAY, moving to the White House at 5pm.

If you can join either of both of these protests, please assemble with us. (On board were Ambassador Edward Peck from Chevy Chase, Huwaida from DC, Col. Ann Wright, and an elderly Holocaust survivor). We have a communication blackout on how they are doing. One of the ships was an American flagship.)

Use Memorial Day to memorialize all the brave activists, show our outrage, and let the world know we are not sleeping! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. Call Joan to add your organization's support for these actions.

On Saturday May 29th, people will converge on Phoenix, Ariz., from around the United States, to march against SB1070. Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) is joining with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Puente Arizona in pressuring the Arizona legislature to repeal, and the U.S. President to nullify, this new Arizona law, which mandates racial and ethnic profiling.

Mimi Kennedy, National Chair of Progressive Democrats of America, will be speaking at Saturday's event, along with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Co-founder of United Farm Workers Dolores Huerta, International Executive Vice President of SEIU Eliseo Medina, Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, and Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

A rally with live music and speeches will begin at 8 a.m., May 29, at Indian Steele Park (Corner of 3rd Street and Indian School Rd), Phoenix, AZ.

A 5-mile march will depart at 10:30 a.m. and arrive at the state capitol (1700 West Washington, Phoenix, AZ) at 1:30 p.m. for a second rally with live music and speeches.

This week, PDA posted online an interview of Congressman Grijalva by PDA National Director Tim Carpenter in which Grijalva said he supports targeted economic sanctions aimed at conventions in his own state. Included in the same podcast is an interview of Dan O'Neal, PDA Arizona Coordinator, who discusses plans for the May 29th march against what he describes as "apartheid Arizona." While O'Neal supports a boycott of Arizona, he urges everyone who can to come to Arizona on the 29th to join in the protest.

I’ve been thinking of marketing a concept in the genre that’s all the rage—Reality Television. My primary objective is to enlighten the public, however if financial success is a byproduct, I won’t complain.

This I know: engaging the masses requires much more than the presentation of truth. Truth must be veiled in entertainment, the latter a lure to hold attention until the truth, finally, is grasped through (gasp) an epiphany. And, yes, I do believe I’ve come up with something that delivers both.

Here’s the idea: I’m imagining a show whose contestants are troops who’ve returned from AfPak-Iraq. My production crew could go to any military hospital’s traumatic brain injury (TBI) ward to seek competitors for the series. I’m talking Dancing with the Scarred. We’d have Hollywood types work with the young men and women to teach them some dance moves and create fabuloso costumes.

UPDATE: House Appropriations Committee mark-up starts at 5 p.m. and may run late, Thursday, in room 2359 Rayburn House Office Building: webcast.

The Senate is voting now, the House Appropriations committee tomorrow, and the full House after June 7. This means we need to be phoning senators today. But the House remains our best chance. So call these members of the Appropriations Committee now. And call your own representative this week, and plan to meet them in person next week.

What to say: If you do not try to block the war escalation funding, I will try to block your reelection in November. If you support peace, I will support you. Please commit publicly to voting No, no matter what nice things that could be passed separately are packaged into the same vote. Please join the 58 congressional candidates from every political party who have signed a statement against war spending at http://caws.us. Also ask them to support the War Is Making You Poor Act, and support it yourself.

Fifty-eight congressional candidates and 20 activist organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and inviting more candidates, incumbents, and organizations to join them. The 58 candidates, from 25 different states, include 19 Democrats, 18 Greens, 17 Libertarians, 2 Independents, 1 Republican, and 1 Socialist (and more may be added to the website by the time you read this). Forty-nine are candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, and nine for the Senate.

The Senate is scheduled to start debate on the supplemental today! Now is the time to make the calls to your senator! The Senate is expected to vote on the budget request this week, and possibly even as early as Monday. The House is expected to vote after the Memorial Day break.

We want continued pressure on them to:

* Vote NO on funding the supplemental $33 billion for the DOD to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan - to a situation risking the lives of our loved ones and innocent civilians in Afghanistan for no increase in our peace or safety. You live this reality and your Senator needs to hear from you! Bring Our Troops Home Now!

* Let your Senator know that you want the funding for this war stopped. Separate the war funding from the beneficial components of the Supplemental Appropriations Bill - WE WANT NO MORE TROOPS IN THIS WAR!

* Ask them to support Senator Feingold's Amendment that will offer language similar to S. 3197 including a "flexible timetable" for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

Call today - it takes 5 minutes and your voice counts!

Call TOLL FREE 888-543-5234 and ask to be connected to your Representative, and your Senators' offices. To identify your Congressmen and Senator go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/.

Next steps:

* Please email mfso@mfso.org and let us know you made your calls.
* Connect with us on Facebook.
* For more ideas and ways to participate, contact Nikki Morse nikki@mfso.org

Available on the MFSO Website: Hand Outs for Memorial Day Commemorations

If you are attending community events this Memorial Day weekend, we have provided a half-sheet handout for you to use to get our message out to the broadest possible audience. You can access the PDF version of the handout at our MFSO website here. If you would like a Word version to edit with your local contact information, please contact Nikki Morse at nikki@mfso.org.

Whether the nominee’s views as a justice would reflect the positions she has taken as a solicitor general is admittedly unclear. Indeed, the roles of senior Justice Department officials and Supreme Court justices hold little in common.

This from Mike Tidwell, asking that we protest Ted's incarceration AND sign the petition to stop offshore drilling...

Dear Friends,

Despite the Gulf disaster, no one from BP has been arrested and sent to jail. Despite safety violations at coal mines, no one from Massey Energy has been handcuffed. But today I write to inform you that one of America's best global warming activists is probably facing several months of jail. He's been convicted by a D.C. jury, and now he awaits sentencing on July 6th. Why? Because he peacefully dropped two banners on Capitol Hill that said: "GREEN JOBS NOW" and "GET TO WORK."

I'm not joking. Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted by a jury May 13th of peacefully dropping the banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. The DC U.S. Attorney's office clearly has decided to make an "example" of Ted because of his previous two -- count 'em, two -- convictions related to peaceful acts of climate civil disobedience. Can you believe it? You can see a three-minute video of Ted's September "crime" right above. He's the guy toward the end simply lowering the banners. Period.

Now Ted is facing up to three years in jail. Based on the judge's comments last week, it really does appear that he will be incarcerated for at least a month or two.

Call for Support of Soldiers Returning from Afghanistan
Advertising Sought to Let Soldiers Know About our Services

Around 10,000 soldiers will be returning to Fort Lewis from Iraq and Afghanistan over the next three months. These soldiers will be bringing home with them their cumulative experiences from an entire year of combat experiences. According to the Department of Defense, one in three of these soldiers will have post-traumatic stress disorder. This will undoubtedly manifest itself in the form of domestic violence, drunk driving, drug use, suicide, and violent crime. These members of our community will be in need of services that the Army does not provide.

Coffee Strong is gearing up to prepare to help these returning soldiers. We staff GI rights counselors, make referrals to mental health counseling, and Veterans Benefits Advocates. We provide links to services in the community for soldiers, veterans, and military family members. But this will all be for not if we fail to reach the military community to let them know that these services exist.

We need to advertise to ensure that returning soldiers utilize these services. We must raise $6,000 now to take out ads in local papers. Without your support this will not happen. We need your contribution to ensure that any soldier who needs help will get it, and many are denied services due them. Together we can save lives and make sure that no one falls through the cracks because nobody is there to listen.

It's common practice in America. A government-Wall Street cabal caused the financial crisis and subsequent fallout. Now debated financial reform is a stealth scheme to let bankers self-regulate. Rogue Democrats rammed through health reform to ration care and enrich corporate providers. Defense, technology, and related firms profit hugely from permanent wars, and a regulatory-free Washington - energy industry alliance lies at the root of the Gulf disaster, by far America's greatest ever environmental calamity, worsening daily with no fail-safe, or perhaps any, way to stop it.

It's too big even for the major media to ignore - to wit, on May 15, New York Times writer Justin Gillis headlined, "Giant Plumes of Oil Found Forming Under the Gulf of Mexico," saying:

Alarming reports show "Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery" shows that BP and the Obama administration lied about the incident's severity, and they're still lying.

According to University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, "There's a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to" what's visible on the surface, the tip of a big and growing iceberg, this one containing oil. "There's a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column."

Worse still, it's depleting Gulf oxygen, prompting fears about killing sea life in the effected areas and permanently destroying the livelihood of area fisherman who supply 20% of the nation's supply.

Already since April 20, oxygen levels are down 30%, a pace that if maintained "could draw (it) down to very low levels that are dangerous to animals in a couple of months. This is alarming."

Even The Times admits the daily flow may be as high as 80,000 barrels (3.4 million gallons or the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill around every three days). Yet the Obama administration and BP still claim only 5,000 barrels a day, and company officials won't let scientists use sophisticated instruments to measure the output more accurately on the ocean floor. Clearly they have something to hide, but there's no way to suppress the growing ecological devastation once clear evidence substantiates it.

In these troubled times, Washingtons wars and occupations rage, resulting in an ever increasing number of dead and wounded and the destruction of countries posing no threat to the U.S. Trillions are spent on seemingly endless conflicts in pursuit of profits and global domination, while trillions more are lost by working people in loss of jobs, homes, pensions, health care, and cuts to social programs and public services. The U.S. goes to war to plunder the worlds fossil fuel resources, the unrestrained use of which threatens the future of our planet.

We must demand the immediate and total withdrawal of U.S. military forces, mercenaries and contractors from Afghanistan and Iraq, and the end to drone attacks on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries and call for self-determination for the people of all countries. Moreover, we recognize that the Middle East cauldron today also encompasses Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and Israel, while countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa are targeted for intervention by a militarized U.S. foreign policy.

The urgency of the current world situation DEMANDS UNITY OF ACTION and purpose to generate the broad social movement we must create to not only end wars and occupations, but to fundamentally change the aggressive policies that inevitably lead our country to militarism, racism, and war. Our cry must be "Money for Human Needs; Not for Wars, Occupations, and Bail-Outs."

Come to a conference where peace, social justice and environmental activists will come together to discuss the major concerns we face and to hammer out an ambitious program of action. The time is long overdue for such a gathering.

SCHEDULE

Friday evening, July 23: Panel discussion on "Strategies & Tactics in the Struggle to End the Empires Wars and Occupations"; Presentation of Action Proposal

NOAM CHOMSKY, Internationally renowned political activist, author, and critic of U.S. foreign and domestic policies, MIT Professor Emeritus of Linguistics

DONNA DEWITT, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO; Co-Chair, South Carolina Progressive Network; Steering Committee, U.S. Labor Against the War; Administrative Body, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations

RSVP for Instructions to Join Conversation on Monday, May 10 at 5:30pm (Pacific) / 8:30pm (Eastern)

As we recoil in horror that not 1,000 - not 5,000 - BUT 25,000 barrels of oil per day are gushing into ocean waters poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, let us prepare for action. This is another "shock doctrine" moment - and it is up to us to seize it. On May 16, actions will be held in around the country. Don't you think it's time to shift the national dialogue away from Wall Street dependent solutions and time to assess fossil fuels for their true cost?

Backbone Campaign is organizing Monday's (5-10) Conversation with the Cabinet conference call/interview/webcast to help you channel your rage into action with the strongest possible demands. We have a moral obligation and a strategic opportunity to seize the debate and insist on real tools for the transition off fossil fuels and one of those tools is the Carbon Tax.

By Tiffiny Cheng, A New Way Forward, David DeGraw, Amped Status and Kevin Zeese, Prosperity Agenda

The next few weeks will culminate into a defining moment in American history and lay the course for our economic future. After two years of being asleep at the switch, Congress is finally stepping up and taking action on financial reform. The resulting bill will be a clear indication and definitive proof as to who is actually running our country. Will it reinforce the dominance of the Wall Street elite, or will it mark a rebirth of the rule of law and economic prosperity for millions of Americans who have seen their standard of living decline?

We cannot just sit back and let politicians, who are overly influenced by campaign funding and lobbying activities on the part of the big banks who have plunged us into this crisis, decide our future without us. Our passive unwillingness to stand up for our own rights is part of the reason we are in this crisis to begin with. Right now is the most pivotal time for us to make our voice heard.

The early indications are ominous, two of the most crucial aspects of true reform have already been dealt a severe blow. The amendment to break up the "too big to fail" banks has been voted down, and the bill to audit the Federal Reserve has been gutted of important provisions.

Last year, Alice Walker, Stephen King and others, took our 10 Against Torture action. Now, in 2010, we're asking you to be one of 10,000 Americans committed to urging the Obama administration to following through on its commitment to close Guantanamo and restore justice to a flawed detention and interrogation system.

Please join us over the next several weeks to help get America back on track to a country that respects the rule of law and rejects torture.

In recent years you've expressed your opposition to war spending. I'd like to encourage you to cap off your congressional career by actually refusing to provide the funding for the current escalation in Afghanistan, and by simultaneously introducing a bill to spend $33 billion on green energy jobs, including for former soldiers.

You know better than I do that the power to begin, end, oversee, and control the escalation of wars lies in Congress. That the president has gone ahead with the escalation unfunded cannot legitimate it, and those troops can certainly be turned around and be brought immediately home.

I go on trial, a jury trial, on May 11th in Washington, D.C. This is for hanging a banner last Sept. 8th, 2009, the day Congress returned from their summer recess, which said: "Green Jobs Now, Get to Work." This was part of a demonstration of about 40 people inside the Hart Senate Office Building.

It's ironic, and sad, that this call for action is as relevant now as it was eight months ago.

I was originally scheduled for trial in late February but it was postponed until May 11th. The government has made it clear they want to make an example of me because of prior convictions for similar actions. Their plea deal offer to me, which I rejected, was that if I pleaded guilty I'd have to serve 30 days in jail. They have filed a motion that, because of my past convictions, they may be asking for additional jail time if I'm convicted beyond the maximum 6 months that I'm liable for right now. I will be defending myself, with the assistance of lawyer Ann Wilcox.

I'm asking people who can to show up in court the morning (or the afternoon) of the 11th. The courtroom is the Superior Court building, 500 Indiana Ave. NW, Washington DC, Judge Frederick Weisberg presiding.

Please sign up at this link if you will be able to attend. Thanks much, Ted Glick

WASHINGTON, DC--April was the second month in a row in which "brown bag" lunch vigils against war funding were held at congressional district offices in over 100 districts around the country. Organizations participating included: Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), CODEPINK, AfterDowningStreet, the Backbone Campaign, Democrats.com, the California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee, Healthcare Now, American Friends Service Committee and United for Peace and Justice.

Brown Bag Vigils have been held on the third Wednesday of each month since January. The next scheduled date is May 19th.

Brown-baggers are asking members of the House to publicly commit to voting No on any bills that fund wars, and to publicly urge their colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment. This position necessarily includes opposition to the proposed $33 billion supplemental expected in the coming weeks to fund an escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Congress members' commitments are tracked at http://defundwar.org.

PDA national director Tim Carpenter said "If congress members want to claim they oppose wars or support job creation, they have to vote against this $33 billion to escalate a war. And they know that we know that any smaller measures, such as aid to Haiti, can be passed separately if the war funding fails, and therefore there can be no excuses for voting yes to fund the escalation."

Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and our country. We seek to build a party and government controlled by citizens, not corporate elites--with policies that serve the broad public interest, not just private interests. PDA is a grassroots PAC operating inside the Democratic Party, and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our inside/outside strategy is guided by the belief that a lasting majority will require a revitalized Democratic Party built on firm progressive principles.

For over two decades, the party declined as its leadership listened more to the voices of corporations than those of Americans. PDA strives to rebuild the Democratic Party from the bottom up--from every congressional district to statewide party structures to the corridors of power in Washington, where we work arm in arm with the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In just five years, PDA and its allies have shaken up the political status quo--on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Medicare for all, voter rights, accountability, and economic and environmental justice.

Josh Stieber served in the company shown in the video from Iraq recently released by Wikileaks. He and Ethan McCord have published an apology to the Iraqi people:http://bit.ly/dkWP4o
And the widow of an Iraqi killed in the video has accepted the apology:http://bit.ly/cBVtZc
Steiber will participate in Thursday's Teach-In on Capitol Hill, where he will speak briefly and be available to answer questions.

Teach In on Capitol Hill on War

What Congress Must Do to End U.S. Wars and Help Secure a Peaceful Middle East

This Thurday's public teach-in on the war on Capitol Hill with Dennis Kucinich, Chris Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, David Swanson, and Ann Wright (which everyone should ask their representative to attend by calling them at 202-224-3121) is being sponsored by these organizations that are all working for peace and all need your support and participation:

It's high time to redefine Uncle Sam .....the Global Network wants to challenge our artist friends to send us new images of what Uncle Sam should look like today as the empire collapses due to massive military spending and endless war.

Send us your drawings/paintings by May 24 and we will post them on our blog and pick a winner who will be awarded one of my books called Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire.

Our country has and will change even more in the next few years. It's high time that the symbol of the U.S., Uncle Sam, had a new look that really represents this change.

Soon Congress will be voting on a war supplemental of $33 billion to fund President Obama's troop escalation in Afghanistan, as well as a proposed defense budget of over $700 billion which includes $159 billion for "Overseas Contingency Operations" in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a 3.4 percent increase over the 2010 budget, yet programs for education, housing, transportation and the environment are being frozen. The money for Iraq and Afghanistan could be better spent at home to create jobs. We know this budget reflects the priorities of the Pentagon and not the American people.

Support This Site

Buy Books

Get Gear

The log-in box below is only for bloggers. Nobody else will be able to log in because we have not figured out how to stop voluminous spam ruining the site. If you would like us to have the resources to figure that out please donate. If you would like to receive occasional emails please sign up. If you would like to be a blogger here please send your resume.

User login

Username: *

Password: *

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.